Friday, June 8, 2012

I am writing the Team 7 book for DC comics. Which is awesome on any number of levels. I mean, first of all, DC Comics! Second, Team 7! The original was my favorite Wildstorm back in the day, so it means a lot to me to get to write the new one.

Here's a bit about it: http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/06/08/dc-offers-zero-issues-in-september-launches-new-titles

Anyhow, since this went public, I was asked to talk about how I broke in. I'm not sure if what I have to say is all that useful, but I'll give it a shot.

Well, I did Luther Strode, obviously, which Image liked well
enough to get me on the cover of Previews. That, obviously, got the book a lot
of attention (as did Tradd's badass art) so people were aware of the book.

We got a lot of good reviews and our sales were good, and we
got great word of mouth, so our sales actually increased from month to month.
Which again, got noticed.

Which led to a prominent DC writer (not mentioning his name
here, because I don't want him to get flooded by people thinking he's the
gateway to DC) liking the book and my writing, and he told DC editorial that
they should take a look. They read Luther and liked it, and asked me to pitch
them on Team 7.

Annnnnd, here we are.

So, basically, write a book people like, and then get lucky.

Contrastingly, I have another big WFH that I got by flat out
sending the editor an email, and then sending him my stuff, and going from
there.

The Hack/Slash gig I got because I wrote a book that Tim
liked, and then we met in a bar and got along.

So, I guess, if I have any advice (which is a dubious idea,
but I'll run with it) it's this:

1. Don't Give Up. I've been trying to out together books for
the last ten or so years. I was rejected maybe twenty times? Possibly more. I
kept working and kept going.

2. Work Hard. I am lazy as a fuck, in general. But I do take
my writing seriously and I work as hard as I can at it. I've got ten projects
that I am trying to get off the ground (not the failure rate above - I don't
expect more than one or two to pan out, if that). I try to write twenty or so
page of comics a week. It adds up. And it continues after - I worked twenty or
thirty hours a week for two months leading up to Luther, just trying to get the
word out.

3. Don't be a dick. I am, fortunately, mostly not a dick
naturally, but being someone who is fun to be around and easy to work with goes
a long way. If you're super talented but you piss off everyone you work with,
you're going to have a hard time of it.

4. Be lucky. There's a lot of shit you just can't control. I
had no control over whether Tradd would like the book. I had no control over
whether above mentioned writer would like the book. Whether DC would have
something they like. Whether Tim Seely would be at that bar.

What I could control, and this is really what points one and
two are about, is my opportunities to be lucky. If you do the work and keep
doing the work, you vastly increase your chances of luck going your way. I
can't and won't tell you that if you work hard and don't give up, you will
succeed. You might still not make it. But what I can tell you is that if you
don't work hard and you give up easily, your chances are essentially zero.